Thinkpad Z61t - Hard drive not found during XP Install

[mmholmes]

I have a Thinkpad Z61t and a personal purchased copy of Windows XP Home Edition. I would like to re-load windows on the laptop to get rid of the all the 'extra' software which came pre-loaded.

When I attempt to boot from the Windows XP CD, the setup program runs through the drivers load process; I select that I want to load the software. Then, I receive a message that there is no hard drive connected to my system. The screen I would expect to see is the typical screen listing the partitions on the hard drive; this does NOT appear.

The pre-loaded version of Windows is running fine. This would indicate the hard drive is operating as expected.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.

[GomJabbar]

See if the information in this link will help you out. I believe the procedure for the Z61t should be the same as the T60.

Installation instructions for Windows XP - ThinkPad T60, T60p

[dsalyers]

Just to be clear you need to follow the alternate procedure in the link listed above. This is because the windows install disks can not see SATA harddrives. Thus in the bios you need to set the SATA to compatibility mode.